Ravinia 2026 Issue 3

triple-meter themes with the characteristic po- lonaise march rhythm. Bertolini chose those he liked best, then Beethoven completed this rondo-like work. After gaining permission from Prince Wolkonski to dedicate the polonaise to the empress, Beethoven unveiled his new in- vention before her imperial highness. His ploy worked. The empress offered 50 ducats for the polonaise, then inquired whether Beethoven ever received anything from her husband. Dis- covering the oversight, the empress added 100 ducats for the violin sonatas. According to bi- ographer Felix Schindler, Beethoven liked to boast how “he allowed himself to be courted by the highest rulers in Europe and had comported himself admirably.” JOHANNES BRAHMS (1833–1897) Piano Sonata No. 3 in F minor, op. 5 When Robert Schumann wrote his 1853 article “New Paths” in the Neue Zeitschrift für Musik , he proclaimed young Johannes Brahms the new genius of German music. “Following the paths of these chosen ones with the utmost interest, it has seemed to me that, after such a preparation, there would and must suddenly appear someday one man who would be singled out to make ar- ticulate in an ideal way the highest expression of our time, one man who would bring us mastery, not as the result of a gradual development, but as Minerva, springing fully armed from the head of Cronus. And he is come, a young crea- ture over whose cradle graces and heroes stood guard. His name is Johannes Brahms .” Before this famous article, Brahms had attracted recognition as a pianist in recitals throughout Europe with Hungarian violinist Eduard Hoff- mann (known as Ede Reményi). Schumann met Brahms in Düsseldorf in 1853 and was partic- ularly moved by the young pianist’s depth of expression: “Even outwardly, he bore in his per- son all the marks that announce to us a chosen Clara and Robert Schumann man. Seated at the piano, he at once discovered to us wondrous regions. We were drawn into a circle whose magic grew on us more and more. To this was added an altogether inspired style of playing which made of the piano and orchestra of lamenting and exultant voices.” Many of Brahms’s piano works come from these years of growing renown. He composed numer- ous sets of variations, ballades, and dances for solo piano, in addition to chamber combina- tions including the piano. The traditional Classi- cal piano sonata, cultivated by Haydn and Mo- zart and greatly expanded by Beethoven, was a genre that occupied Brahms for only a brief two- year period (1852–53), during which he com- posed three such works. It was Brahms’s combi- nation of Classical formal design with Romantic expression in these sonatas that revealed many “wondrous regions” to Schumann. While vacationing at the estate of Countess Ida von Hohenthal, Brahms secured his brother Fritz a position as private music teacher to her children. Out of gratitude, Brahms dedicated the newly completed Sonata No. 3 (1853) to the countess. Clara Schumann gave the first public performance of the Andante and Scherzo move- ments at a Gewandhaus recital in Leipzig on October 23, 1854, and she played the complete sonata for the first time six weeks later in Mag- deburg. Schumann also programmed the work on her tour of north-German cities during the fall of 1854. Brahms admired her interpretation of this work, as he wrote to the violinist Joseph Joachim, “Yesterday she did my F-minor sonata exactly as I had envisaged it, only still more no- bly, with more quiet enthusiasm, and yet at the same time cleanly and purely and with the most magnificent tone in the more powerful passag- es—all little advantages which she has over me.” The five-movement Sonata No. 3 is one of the most monumental keyboard works of the whole Johannes Brahms (1853) 19th century. Brahms expanded the typical four-movement design to include an Intermezzo before the finale. The Allegro maestoso opens with a dramatic gesture: two chords flanking a dotted rhythmic pattern that leaps upward from the lowest register of the piano. A tranquil phrase containing a triplet figure in the bass pro- vides temporary repose, and then the opening gesture returns somewhat varied. The second theme in major is actually a further transforma- tion of the initial idea; the rhythmic figure in the bass provides support for the chordal treble line. A gentle chromatic descent closes the exposi- tion. Development is focused on the opening gesture before a new, expressive theme is intro- duced, played in the middle register, quasi cello . The recapitulation begins near the end of the dramatic first theme, consciously avoiding the tranquil middle phrase. Both the chordal second theme and the chromatic closing idea return. A sizeable coda concludes the movement. Brahms prefaced the C-minor Andante espres- sivo with a quote from a poem by C.O. Sternau: “The evening falls, the moonlight gleams, / There are two hearts united in Love, / And em- bracing one another in bliss.” Brahms evokes the quiet fall of twilight in his first theme: a de- scending series of pitches, each set apart by the interval of a third. The key changes to D-flat major for an extremely soft and tender theme. Following a restatement of the opening idea, an extended coda (containing a repeated bass pitch and a lyrical melody) draws the move- ment to a close. The waltzing, minor-key Scherzo contains an elusive, wandering harmonic foundation that reveals the influence of Robert Schumann’s pi- ano music. Its trio changes to major and a more subdued, legato character. Then, the boisterous scherzo returns exactly as before. Next comes the Intermezzo , an introspective piece in B-flat mi- nor subtitled Rückblick (Reminiscence). Its de- scending andante molto theme shares a melodic kinship with the opening theme of the second movement. A timpani-like pattern in the lower register recurs throughout. This movement pro- ceeds without interruption into the finale. The Allegro moderato ma rubato is a darkly colored, modified rondo in minor. Its refrain contains short phrases and bold dynamic con- trasts. The first contrasting theme states Joa- chim’s musical motto—F, A, and E-flat, derived from the phrase “ frei aber einsam ” (free but alone)—supported by an arpeggiated accom- paniment. A return of the refrain leads to a second contrasting theme, a legato hymn in D-flat major. The refrain is fragmented and developed, and the hymn-like theme returns in a thinly textured setting with staccato accom- paniment. A final refrain fragment is heard be- fore a presto coda, which concludes the sonata with a sense of majesty. RAVINIA.ORG • RAVINIAMAGAZINE 85